5 Jul 2018

A playful animation featuring a smiling face, lightning bolts and quirky creatures will be beamed on to the Arts Centre Clock Tower during House of Travel Botanic D’Lights.

This year’s festival, from 8 to 12 August, will reach beyond the Botanic Gardens to the gothic architecture of the Arts Centre of Christchurch for the first time.

Local artist Jacob Yikes, who is well known for his surreal cartoon-like artworks seen in murals around the central city, has created a new work that has been animated for the festival by students at Ara Institute of Canterbury.

The artwork will be projected on to the stone facade of the Clock Tower block on Worcester Boulevard, a building that recently won top prize in the Canterbury Heritage Awards

YHA New Zealand has donated a room at Rolleston House for the duration of the event to house the projector for the work.

With the theme ‘Escape Your Reality’, this year’s festival organised by Christchurch City Council showcases the talents of New Zealand’s leading lighting artists and designers, including tutors and students from Ara.

Artist Jacob Yikes' artwork will be projected on to the Arts Centre clock tower

Artist Jacob Yikes' artwork will be projected on to the Arts Centre clock tower during Botanic D'Lights. The photo shows an early 'test run' for the work.

It will feature 42 different lighting and project-based installations, including Yikes’ work, which has sound effects and is called “They’re going to laugh at you”.

He says it is light-hearted and mainly about poking fun at himself.

“All of the caricatures I come up with are pieces of myself and my personality and subconscious. A lot of my work can be quite dark but I wanted this to appeal to all age groups. It’s a playful look at myself and I think a lot of people need a laugh because it’s a serious world at the moment.”

Yikes has enjoyed working collaboratively with the students and Ara Motion Design Tutor Tim Budgen in his debut with House of Travel Botanic D’Lights.

“It’s really good to be able to utilise someone else’s skill set that I don’t have. I was always really keen to see some of my paintings come alive but I wasn’t able to do it myself.”

After the festival his artwork will be auctioned to raise funds for Nurse Maude Hospice, which is this year’s chosen charity. Visitors to the free event will be encouraged to bring a gold coin donation.

Yikes has a special connection to Nurse Maude because hospice staff cared for his grandmother before she died about five years ago, and he was keen to contribute.

This year’s House of Travel Botanic D’Lights will also feature a street party atmosphere with Rolleston Ave closed to traffic and food vendors, live music and a DJ each night.

Council Arts and Events Manager Karena Finnie says extending the event to the Arts Centre of Christchurch will add an extra dimension to the experience, with visitors able to enjoy the after-dark magic of two very different environments.

When Botanic D’Lights was last held, more than 70,000 people visited the lighting displays in the Botanic Gardens.